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Former US President Bill Clinton Speaking at the Eye on Earth Summit
Overview
The Eye on Earth Summit, Alliance and Special Initiatives brings together global leaders, innovators and decision-makers to convene, converge and collaborate on an issue critical to the wise decision-making upon which our planet’s future depends: how to ensure equitable access to the world's expanding pool of environmental, social and economic data and information needed to achieve the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Eye on Earth Summit was hosted by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and was under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. Raymond Chavez served as Senior Producer and Program Development Advisor with the GPC Group for EAD and UNEP for the inaugural Eye on Earth Summit and Exhibition from 2010 – 2014. GPC work covered all phases of project design, planning, fundraising and production. GPC was also responsible for securing the following VIP keynote speakers and presentation curating for the Summit: President Bill Clinton, UN SecretaryGeneral for Rio+20, H.E. Sha Zukang, UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, National Geographic Explorer-In-Resident, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Jane Goodall, Esri President, Jack Dangermond, Google Earth Director, Rebecca Moore and IUCN Director General, Julia Marton-Levefre, among others. GPC's Raymond Chavez was also producer with National Geographic of the Eye on Earth Summit video (See Eye on Earth Curtain Rasier below).
Raymond was the GPC team leader for strategic partnership development of the new Eye on Earth Alliance which includes EAD, UNEP, Group on Earth Observation (GEO), IUCN and World Resources Institute. The Eye on Earth Alliance will assume leadership and responsibility for the next Summit currently planned for October 2015 and to support the Eye on Earth Special Initiatives. GPC’s work also included work in developing the Eye on Earth Fund, a public-private endowment and donor-advised fund that will support the Eye on Earth Alliance, Special Initiatives and Summit.
Hightlights
Eye on Earth focused on many topics related to environmental information networking, including Disaster Management, Oceans & Blue Carbon, Water Security, Innovative Cities, Networks Beyond Information Technology - and more. Working Groups and Open Sessions will helped reach a consensus on the key data and information issues that Rio +20 needs to focus on. These will be presented to Rio + 20 by AGEDI, on behalf of the Eye on Earth Community in the Eye on Earth Declaration.
The Summit
Over four days Eye on Earth addressed the crucial importance of environmental and societal information and networking to decision-making. On the final day, the Summit delivered its conclusions, special initiatives and a declaration towards Rio+20. Keynote speakers throughout the four days of the Summit included President Bill Clinton and H.E. Dr Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahd, UAE Minister of Environment and Water.
The Exhibition
The Exhibition featured the best in new geospatial observation and data processing technologies. Highlights included the Abu Dhabi Pavilion, Technology Showcase, Innovation Forum, and the One UN Pavilion that brought together UNEP and other UN agencies, funds and programmes to display information and products that illustrate the multi-dimensional international work the UN is doing in the area of environmental data and information.

The AD-SDI Program was initially conceived as a staged implementation starting with a foundation (stage 1), moving into institutionalizing and strengthening (stage 2) and finally into ongoing monitoring, assessment and adaptive management (stage 3). The foundation stage, which was a six-month fast track, was successfully completed between June and December, 2007. It established the basic foundation elements of the AD-SDI including refinement of the previous stakeholder situation assessment regarding GIS development in all the key agencies, development of an AD-SDI Strategic Plan that delineates data, technical and institutional target states, and alignment of existing major data development projects. It established also a Geospatial Portal and Data Clearinghouse, populated the Clearinghouse with representative data from all the participating agencies, leveraged existing data for visible results, established representative Technical Committee to participate in and guide the AD-SDI development process, and ensured that capacity building programs are in place for all participating agencies that need to be responsible custodians and users of the AD-SDI. The first stage culminated in the development and distribution of an AD-SDI Program Design, Implementation Plan, and an Operations Plan for the Spatial Data Center (SDC).
The second stage of AD-SDI started formally on April 14, 2008 and was completed by March 2010. Stage 2 involved the expansion, refinement, and institutionalizing of the AD-SDI infrastructure foundations established in Stage 1, including the addition of data and metadata, coordinating with selected agencies to develop their own Geospatial nodes, monitoring data and capacity building projects, continuing to provide analyst support to the Executive Council and others, deploying the latest technology based AD-SDI Geospatial Portal 2.1, and adding integration and spatially enabled applications to the e-Government portal and government agency websites where appropriate. During this stage, the AD-SDI project team supported the initial operations of the AD-SDI Spatial Data Centre (SDC) and assisted ADSIC in carrying out a capacity building program for permanent staff that will ultimately take over the operations and administration of the AD-SDI program.
The third stage of AD-SDI started formally on March 2010. Stage 3 targets the evolution of the AD-SDI program into adaptive management, monitoring and continuous innovation. This period will focus on strengthening the AD-SDI foundation by: expanding the stakeholder community (currently more than 50 entities); completing the formalization of data sharing arrangements; aligning and tracking all major data projects and initiating any additional projects needed to fill remaining gaps; continuing the development and enforcement of standards and interoperability best practices with the community; leveraging AD-SDI data and infrastructure to support wide range of high value, high impact services and products; and institutionalizing the data maintenance and expansion of the Data Clearinghouse to include all fundamental data layers that are needed in common by the stakeholder community; and work toward the data flow automation between the individual nodes and the central AD-SDI nodes where necessary.

The annual Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) was convened in Abu Dhabi during March 2015. GFIA is under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA). The theme for GFIA 2015 was Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). The world’s population is growing, and natural resources are diminishing. This problem is well documented, but to avoid a major catastrophe the world has to find a way to produce 56% more food by 2050. The answer lies in innovation. Innovation in agriculture gives us a real chance of feeding nine billion people using less resource and with no environmental damage. It has the potential to offer solutions to combat global warming, protect vital biodiversity and provide technologies that can improve nutrition and social prosperity in developing countries.
The 2015 GFIA Summit
was inaugurated with a video message from HRH Prince Charles - please visit the GFIA website here https://www.innovationsinagriculture.com/ to view.
Raymond Chavez is a GPC Group member, and served as a Senior Producer and Program Development Advisor for GFIA.GPC’s work with GFIA focused on securing high-level strategic partnerships, sponsors and VIP keynote speakers for the GFIA – CSA Summit. This included negotiating agreements, to produce special GFIA video messages from HRH Prince Charles and U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry to feature as part of the GFIA Summit opening ceremony and on the GFIA website. GPC's Raymond Chavez established strategic partnerships for GFIA with the Clinton Climate Initiative, Digital Globe, Esri, Global Environment Facility, National Geographic, USAID and the World Bank, among others. GPC’s work with GFIA also included helping to secure participation by national delegations from more than 70 countries including Ministers of Agriculture from: Brazil, Costa Rica, Ireland, France, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Spain, UAE, UK, US and Vietnam as well as from 24 African Union countries. For more information, please see www.innovationsinagriculture.com.

Under the direction and support of Abu Dhabi Government and in an ongoing effort to realize the government objectives, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) has initiated the No Objection Certificate Program for Utilities and Infrastructure in Abu Dhabi (NOC) as a strategic government initiative. Within a collaborative partnership framework with ADSIC, The GPC Group has embarked on addressing the project strategic planning and implementation by combining local expertise with global sound practices. The business engagement was initiated in 2011 with the Master Planning phase while the three-stage-program implementation started in early 2013. The program was designed in collaboration with the municipalities and 19 stakeholder entities to streamline NOC operations and operating procedures among all the stakeholders, which shall contribute to improving the efficiency of permits and approvals procedures and processes. The Vision of the NOC Program is to enable “An investor friendly government and society proactively encouraging and facilitatingsustainable and resilient community development opportunities in Abu Dhabi”.
The NOC Program initiation was triggered by the rapid pace of urban development in Abu Dhabi which fuels an average of 15,000 permits and approvals transactions annually. These result in approximately 100,000 No-Objection-Certificate (NOC) transactions being prompted every year by public, private and government entities, with each having to endure the processing complexities of the system. Such complexity consumes excessive time and effort by involved parties, thus adding financial burden on investors. Therefore, the prime objectives of the program focused on protecting valuable infrastructure assets, enhancing integrated government business processes, raising customer satisfaction and improving the overall investment environment.
In delivering the NOC Project’s planning, GPC employed its methodology which included addressing the NOC process full life cycle and tackling the business, institutional and technological frameworks to ensure delivering a comprehensive solution with tangible short and long term results. To make sure the NOC Common Solution satisfies business needs while being feasible to implement and deploy, continuous involvement of stakeholders is integrated within the program development processes. The NOC Program is planned along three stages of implementation: the foundation and establishment stage, the reinforcement and institutionalization stage, and the adaptation and performance management stage. The current foundation and establishment stage includes the development of a governance framework, implementing a common NOC Solution and addressing related policies and legislations. The reinforcement and institutionalization stage includes integrating with and supporting the development of individual entities’ NOC systems, the implementation of a one-call location facility and further developing the institutional and governance tracks. The final stage focuses on the adaptation and performance management, which includes the development of systematic processes for continually improving management practices and policies and reaching a matured integration with Abu-Dhabi e-Government Program.
Having the NOC Program sustainable success as the ultimate goal, a multifaceted operations approach is adopted in the implementation phase which includes: securing the commitment and collaboration of all stakeholders; developing a solid governance model; conducting capacity building; aligning related business processes unification of roles and responsibilities among the stakeholders entities; securing the availability of high quality data and leveraging related government services, among other activities. Today, the NOC program community has expended covering stakeholders from various sectors including municipal, utilities, transport, oil & gas, safety & security among others. Each entity is represented by specialists from various business and technical domains related to NOCs including strategy & planning, corporate services, asset management & planning, projects, customer service, IT/GIS, HSE, and permits & approvals. The continual integration of all business, technical and human aspects topped with a close supervision and continuous direct support from the leadership are among the most critical factors of the NOC Program.

At the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development 20-22 June 2012, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from government, the private sector, NGOs and other groups came together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to 'the future we want' - and formally document the commitments in a focused political document. Under leadership of the Brazilian Government, 193 Member States of the United Nations made agreement on a wide range of actions, among many which include:
 launching a process to establish sustainable development goals;
 detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development;
 strengthening the UN Environment Programme and establishing a new forum for sustainable development;
 promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures;
 taking steps to go beyond GDP to assess the well‐being of a country;
 developing a strategy for sustainable development financing;
 adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production;
 focusing on improving gender equality;
 stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy; and
 recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development.
It was the United Nations biggest Conference ever and a major step forward in achieving a sustainable future. Rio+20 marks the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which took place in Rio de Janeiro.
The UN Rio+20 – Eye on Earth Initiative brought together April Bucksbaum, Executive Director of the Baum Foundation, Raymond Chavez, Senior VP for the GPC Group, Marta Salas-Porras, Creative Director at Obscura Digital and Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox, Deputy Director Head of Communications with the UNEP Regional Office for North America. Their collaboration included all aspects of design and development of the Rio+20 event brand, logo, communication and marketing campaign which required coordination among the entire UN family of organizations. Following is a link to an illustrative example to one of the Rio+20 – 'The Future We Want' communication and marketing plans designed and produced by April Bucksbaum, Raymond Chavez, Marta Salas-Porras and collaborating partners for the Eye on Earth - UN Environment Programme Rio +20 Pavilion and Multimedia outreach campaign:
https://bit.ly/UNRio20EoE

GPC has been supporting the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi in the conceptualization and implementation of the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) since 2005. The AGEDI program was originally conceived in 2001 by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) as a means of participating as an active and visible participant in international environmental affairs, with an emphasis on “closing the environmental gap between developed and developing nations”. The program was initially fashioned around the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) Type II Partnership Initiative, as a tool to support the environmental provisions of Chapter 40 of Agenda 21 and the Millennium Development Goals. The program has been through several stages of development and evolution over 5 years, and a new AGEDI Plan 2007-2012 was formulated to provide the roadmap that was used to guide the Program into its second phase of development. A comprehensive program assessment was carried out by GPC and the University of Redlands. The findings of that effort are documented in the AGEDI Program Status Review, November 2006. A program assessment workshop was then held in Abu Dhabi UAE from March 19-21 2007 to review the previous assessment, and to help identify other issues, priorities and considerations for taking the AGEDI program forward. The workshop included the participation of over 70 representatives from 37 organizations that are considered to be primary stakeholders in the AGEDI program.
GPC was subsequently commissioned to work with EAD staff to develop the AGEDI 5 Year Plan 2007-2012. This Plan comprised of a variety of discrete but interrelated activities and projects, organized according to three Tracks of highly related projects, including:
Track 1 - Program Organization, Mobilization and Operations
Program Coordination Group Formation and Mobilization
International Advisory Committee Formation and Mobilization
Technical Coordination Committee Formation and Mobilization
Task Force Formation and Mobilization
Support Ongoing Operations
Support Special Projects
Track 2 - Sub-National/National Project Development
Sector Paper Review and Knowledgebase
State of Environment Review and Refinement
Environmental Atlas
Geospatial Portal Enhancement
Website Refinement
EPI for Abu Dhabi
Track 3 - Regional/International Project Development
Programs Alignment Strategy

AD-StreetThe Department of Municipal Affairs of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (DMA), under the direction of the General Secretariat for the Executive Council (GSEC), and in coordination with Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Western Region Municipalities, have initiated the Abu Dhabi Street Address, Geonames and Signage System (ADAGS) Project. The Project intends to modernise, standardise and formalise the way places are named and located across the Emirate. These will be in line with international best practices and draw on local culture and heritage in its adoption.
Several organisations have accomplished significant advances in various aspects of geographic naming (geonaming), street addressing, and signage within different jurisdictions of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi over the past several years. Good progress has been made in many of these areas and the ADAGS Project intends to build on, strengthen and integrate all the existing standards, policies and guidelines to a single coordinated framework for the entire Emirate. This is expected to later serve as a model for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a Country-wide system.
The ADAGS Project promoted under the Onwani (My Address) brand, will oversee the implementation of over 180,000 unique building addresses, 19,000 street names, review 240 district boundaries and install 49,000 new street and district signs – covering 87% of the UAE. The result is expected to improve how businesses and homes are referenced and located in ways that will provide benefit across all segments of Abu Dhabi society; improve emergency response time, assist faster delivery of goods and services, reduce carbon footprint, support public health, education, planning and operations, stimulate economic growth, and encourage residents and tourists to explore more destinations.
The Project will create for the first time a unified addressing platform, where the public and private sector can operate from a common location database. This will also serve as a powerful mechanism to integrate and cross-reference existing geocodes and databases to enhance operating efficiencies and effectiveness.
In delivering the ADAGS Project, there are seven fundamental components that form the project’s foundations:
A Strategic Plan,
Policies, Authority and Organisation,
Geoname Standards,
Street Addressing Standards,
Street Sign Standards,
Information System and Data Production,
An Outreach and Awareness Initiative.
The alignment of these components will result in having a comprehensive addressing infrastructure for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. GPC has supported the Project’s development from the start, through the Bayanat Consortium.

AD-GeoSmart The Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) was established in 2007 to perform the duties of Emirate-wide facilitator and regulator of municipal strategic vision, as well as, the planning and implementation of municipal projects in particular those common across all the three municipalities. This includes coordinating and supporting the GIS technology practices of the Municipalities to support the delivery of efficient and effective services that will result in greater customer satisfaction. Today, one of DMA’s key drivers in achieving this goal is the implementation of an enterprise level GIS business processes and technical applications that will support the efficient and cost effective delivery of municipal services. The implementation of an enterprise GIS of this nature will require a detailed plan with logical steps that results from comprehensive analysis of the needs of the Municipalities and supported by international best practices. The Consolidated Enterprise GIS and Municipal Spatial Data Infrastructure Roadmap (GeoSmart Roadmap) Project is designed to deliver such a product in the form of a strategic Program Design and implementation Plan, which can be used by the Municipalities and DMA to realize the program.
The GeoSmart Roadmap will be the blueprint for the implementation of Enterprise GISs within each municipality and DMA. These Enterprise GISs will result in transformation of GIS from a business function within the organizations to a resource to be embedded into the business of the municipalities. This will in turn support a GeoSmart Abu Dhabi where technological advancements and institutional innovation produce a world class smart local government environment that delivers effective, proactive and innovative government services.
An Enterprise GIS is designed to meet the needs of an environment, thus changes in the, environment and advances in technology will have significant influence on an Enterprise GIS. Therefore, a strategic plan needs to be dynamic and capable of reflecting the necessary changes required to support the needs of the users. That is, the Consolidated Enterprise GIS strategic Plan should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is providing the necessary guidance for the required Enterprise GIS and Municipal SDI (MSDI).
In delivering the Roadmap Project, there are thirteen fundamental components that form the project’s foundations:
A Situation Assessment Report,
Recent Status Report,
International Best Practices Report,
Data Inventory and Assessment Report,
Needs Analysis,
Strategic Plan,
Program Design,
Training and Capacity Building Plan,
Operations Plan,
An Implementation Plan,
Program and Projects Alignment Plan,
Consolidated Organizational Charts,
Project Handover.
The alignment of these components will result in having a comprehensive GIS Roadmap for DMA and the municipalities.

In mid-February 2012, over 25 persons representing 13 national and regional government organizations assembled in Erbil in the north of Iraq for an intensive three-day exchange to explore concepts and ideas towards the establishment of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure for Iraq. The workshop was conducted under the auspices of the Prime Minister Advisory Committee (PMAC), and supported by the United States Geologic Survey (USGS). Staff from the GPC Group facilitated the workshop, bringing experience and insights regarding the implementation of GIS federations and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in other countries and regions around the world. The first day of the workshop focused on the principles of GIS and the application of the technology to a wide variety of sectors; the evolution of different levels and structures of GIS federations and ultimately into more formal and institutionalized national and regional SDI; and case studies from around the world to illustrate how the same basic principles have been applied in different contexts.
During the second day, all the participating government organizations presented a summary of the work that they are already doing with GIS. All participants were impressed with the interesting work being carried out by individual agencies, but even more eye-opening was the realization that cumulatively the stakeholder organizations have already build a broad array of data and applications, yet not all were fully aware of each other’s efforts. A very engaging dialog among the attendees filled the afternoon with very energetic and enlightening discussions about the state of GIS development in Iraq, common challenges faced, and the potential for the future. Concluding the day’s proceedings, the GPC Group presented their experience in the planning, institutionalization, and strengthening phases of the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure that has been implemented by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre.
Iraq SDI Workshop Image Gallerry
The third and final day of the workshop started with a review of “lessons learned” in the implementation of GIS and SDI around the world. This discussion focused primarily on the human and institutional factors that so often determine the success or failure of such efforts. By mid-morning of the third day, all the workshop participants had a common understanding of GIS, SDI, the considerable efforts already underway in the country, and lessons learned. This provided the foundation of a common understanding that was then applied to evaluating an approach and priorities for moving an Iraq SDI initiative forward. Each activity “Track” was discussed, as well as the interdependencies between parallel tracks. Feedback from the participants was recorded during these discussions. The final feedback from the participants was compiled into a final workplan that was be presented to the PMAC as a group recommendation for the way forward in development of the Iraq SDI.
All the participants expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the breadth and relevance of the material covered in the workshop. For most, this was the most in-depth exposure to all the technical, institutional and governance factors that must be addressed to achieve an effectively functioning SDI initiative. GPC was honored to have the opportunity to participate in this important meeting, and looked forward to seeing this initiative grow and evolve into a world class initiative while contributing significantly to the economic, social and environmental development of the country in the coming years and decades.
Missing Images

GPC GIS partnered with GISCON and Universe Computing to design and implement an enterprise GIS for the Kuwait Ministry of Finance. The Ministry is responsible for compiling an inventory and assessment of all properties and buildings owned by the State, the administration of processes for taking private lands where required for public benefit, managing land exchanges between the government and private entities, running auctions for the sale of government owned land, and managing leases for markets and shops where these are established within government property. In carrying out these activities, the Ministry works closely with Kuwait Municipality for planning and cadastral boundary matters, with the Ministry of Justice in regards to land title administration, and with many other units of government who are involved in land affairs.
Universe Computers of Kuwait is the prime contractor for the project. GISCON, a Germany-based GIS and IT consulting consortium, carried out the technical management for this multi-year program. GPC-GIS was responsible for the development of the Master Plan for the Ministry of Finance Enterprise System for Land and Property Management, and conducted interviews with key departments during the month of May 2012. The project was initiated at the end of April 2012 with the Master Plan to be completed over the next several months.

In 2010-2011, GPC supported the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) at the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in conceiving, planning and implementing the Eye on Earth Summit – a global event in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) focused on environmental and societal information networking. Held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 12-15 December 2011, the Summit was a major success with delegates and participants from 87 countries in attendance, endorsement of the Eye on Earth Declaration and announcement of 8 Special Initiatives that the AGEDI Program will support and facilitate.
With the success of the 2011 Summit, a considerable amount of work remained in order to fulfill commitments to the Special Initiatives. As a result, GPC entered into an agreement with the AGEDI Program to provide consulting services for supporting the facilitation and coordination of 8 Special Initiatives through the Eye on Earth Special Initiatives Secretariat:
THEMATIC:
Eye on Oceans and Blue Carbon
Eye on Biodiversity
Eye on Water Security
Eye on Community Sustainability and Resiliency
Eye on Disaster Management
FOUNDATION:
Eye on Global Network of Networks
Eye on Education
Eye on Access for All
Special Initiatives were developed as part of an intensive stakeholder consultation process leading up to the 2011 Summit and are considered a critical outcome of the Summit that translate the principles of the Summit to “on the ground” commitments and actions. The Special Initiatives seek to fundamentally improve the landscape of environmental and societal information networking for the benefit of mankind from which compelling and tangible benefits can be achieved. GPC supported the Eye on Earth Special Initiatives Secretariat by acting as lead facilitators for each of the 8 Special Initiatives. To do so, GPC worked closely with the AGEDI Program, UNEP and the Eye on Earth Community to facilitate, coordinate and support the advancement of each Initiative as envisioned by the community and the governing body.

As the lead contractor for the inaugural Eye on Earth Summit 2011, The GPC Group worked with EAD and AGEDI management to facilitate an international consortium including UNEP and the Taylor Group to deliver the Summit to widely accepted success. The GPC Group additionally focused on:
Fine-tuned, commanding Program Management for the Eye on Earth Summit
Facilitated the development of the content for the summit, through an extensive and highly inclusive array of Working Groups and Committees
Organized and shaped the content for the summit, via 62 high-level, world-renowned main stage plenary speakers and 80 speakers for Working Group breakout sessions
Promoting and coordinating the collaborative development of 9 Special Initiatives
Outreach to over 4,500 invited participants
Extensive content and special event delivery for the Eye on Earth Exhibition

From the inaugural Eye on Earth Summit 2011, with a shared knowledge and understanding of the Eye on Earth Community, a suite of outcomes were committed to, including 8 Special Initiatives; 3 foundational and 5 thematic represent significant programmes of work:
The Eye on Water Security
Special Initiative addresses challenging issues. The domain of water security encounters political reluctance to share data and information, which might be considered to document vulnerabilities. There is a lack of collaborative organisational arrangements, common data, and interoperable technology to support water data and information collection and use. In use addition, capacity to collect water information is undermined by a lack of resources and the lack of expertise to collect, analyse and interpret water data. This leads to a gap in capacity for generating reliable, adequate data and information to support scientific study, policy analysis, decision-making, or public information.
The Eye on Access for All
SI promotes and encourages further the implementation of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration globally. Principle 10, one of the major outcomes of the Rio Summit, recognizes and stresses that Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level.
The Eye on Environmental Education
Special Initiative is one of the Eye on Earth foundational Special Initiatives. It is designed as an educational contribution to sustainable development guided by the objectives of the Eye On Earth Summit 2011.Its aims at enhancing Environmental Education and Awareness in the formal, non-formal and informal education as well as capacity building sectors for responsible decision and policy making and transformative action for environment and sustainability in six target regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and West Asia.
The Eye on Global Network of Networks
Aims to join existing and emerging environmental information networks to facilitate systematic and inclusive access to, and reporting on, global environmental data, information and knowledge.Information and communication technologies, as well as the social networking and crowd-sourcing capabilities that these facilitate, are recognised as key to support other environmental and socio-economic information and knowledge. The current challenge is that many of these networks which directly or indirectly address environmental issues are not connected. The aim of this Special Initiative is to link these networks to promote the availability of environmental information at a global to local level and support this by establishing strong institutional arrangements and synergies that currently exist or are planned.
The Eye on Biodiversity
Special Initiative focuses on the incentives required to further motivate people, government, agencies and organizations to share their information and data on issues related to biodiversity, particularly with regard to Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration.It is recognised that there is a substantial amount of information and data which could help address current biodiversity and ecosystem challenges, however there is much collected which is not shared, and much shared which is not connected and visible. The cost of sharing is also acknowledged and the challenge remains to provide an infrastructure where the benefits from sharing are simple, immediate and self-evident.
The Eye on Community Sustainability and Resiliency
Special Initiative has developed an international forum/community of practice linking practitioners and policy makers, who focus on urban and peri-urban development with projects and activities within the broad topic of sustainability and resiliency. The forum, creating a network of people and urban systems, facilitates the sharing of urban information, concepts, tools, challenges and solutions for greatest positive impact.
The Eye on Disaster Management
Initiative is being framed as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to strengthen existing networks and support Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) capacity building for more effective disaster planning and response as well as climate change adaptation. Special emphasis is placed on disaster resistant community development and resiliency in the most vulnerable communities and countries in the world.
The Eye on Oceans & Blue Carbon
Special Initiative focuses on collecting data on oceans and coastal ecosystems(specifically mangroves, sea grass and intertidal salt marsh) and making them useful in the context of management of climate change mitigation (through carbon storage and sequestration) as well as maintenance of ecosystem services valuable to coastal communities.

The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) is the competent authority charged with the implementation of environment laws in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. As part of this, the Agency issues environmental permits for new development, infrastructure & industrial projects and existing industrial facilities in the Emirate. The permits are issued on the basis of evaluation of studies/reports submitted by the proponents of these projects. Each of these reports generally contains substantial amounts of environmental data. Although certain individual efforts were made to compile these data elements, there has never been a concerted and systematic approach to assessing and extracting this huge volume of datasets. The EAD commissioned GPC to conduct study to determine the feasibility to make all data from these documents/studies to be made available from EAD’s Environmental Database (EDB).
The objective of the project was to review all environmental assessment (EA) related studies/documents and assess existing environmental data and information, and to compile, integrate and automate this information to the extent appropriate based on the outcomes of the initial assessment. The first stage focused on creating a digital inventory of all relevant documents and assessing the type and character of environmental assessment information included in each. This information was used to identify the type and value of information that can be extracted from the documents, a prioritization of that content, and a terms of reference and work plan for carrying out that data extraction in a subsequent stage.

Kashmir State was held June 29-30, 2009 at the University of Jammu and Kashmir. The workshop was facilitated by the University with technical support from several private sector companies and other institutions. GPC was commissioned to support the development of the workshop agenda and to make key presentations within the overall format. The workshop was attended by over 100 representatives from several State Government entities, the Federal Government, several private companies and other interested groups. The Workshop focused on raising the awareness of GIS and SDI principles and practice, discussion of the need for such an infrastructure in JK, and building consensus in regards to the way forward.
The Workshop concluded with the agreement for a smaller group to work with Indian and international experts to develop an initial “discussion draft” work plan. The current document is based on international experience and feedback from Workshop attendees and defines an approach for moving the JK-SDI Initiative forward in a manner that addresses both urgent, near-term needs and opportunities as well as longer term strategic planning and the need for incremental and systematic program development over time. This initial work plan was to be distributed to the representative organizations for review and comment, and feedback received used to create a final draft plan to be submitted to the Chief Minister along with a petition from the involved organizations requesting that the JK-SDI be formalized and that immediate actions be taken to seek funding and technical support resources to move the initiative forward.

The Centre of Waste Management Abu Dhabi (CWM-AD) is the lead waste authority in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE) whose mission to become a world leader in sustainable and integrated waste management. GPC is supporting the Center in the planning, design and development of its Data Center, providing assistance in conducting a comprehensive waste inventory for the Emirate, evaluating integration issues and opportunities related to systems being developed by waste management contractors, and other as-needed support.

GPC, in collaboration with ESRI’s local distributor in Yemen, NATCO, is supporting the Republic of Yemen, Remote Sensing Center (YRSC) in the development of a roadmap for the development of the Yemen Spatial Data Infrastructure (YSDI). This has included conducting a rapid assessment of the existing situation in GIS and SDI readiness in several key agencies across the government, and the development of a multi-track approach for the development of the YSDI in both the short and medium term. The draft plan has been distributed and is undergoing review.
A workshop will be held with all the stakeholders to further explain the draft roadmap and to work with the community to shape this into a final form that will be used to establish a formal SDI initiative at the National level.

GPC has teamed with Khatib & Alami, Saudi Consolidated Engineering Company to prepare a GIS Strategic Plan for Jeddah Municipality. The Plan has been developed using a Strategic Balanced Scorecard approach that builds on the City’s Strategic Plan and enterprise Information Strategy. The plan envisions an incremental approach for the strengthening and extension of the Organization’s existing GIS infrastructure and GIS Center, in a manner that is intended to maximize the use of geospatial technology within the City as a fundamental component of the enterprise information infrastructure.

GPC was commissioned by the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) to plan and deliver the first major workshop to introduce the concept of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for Afghanistan. This meeting was held July 17-20, 2006 at the newly opened Afghanistan Central Statistics Office (CSO) Conference Hall, in Kabul. The three-day workshop was attended by over 170 people representing over 50 organizations from the Government of Afghanistan (GoA), international aid, security and support agencies, non-government organizations, and institutions of higher education. The workshop was co-sponsored by the CSO and the Afghanistan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO) under the GoA Office of the Vice-President, and with the financial and technical support of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
A summary document was produced by GPC based on international experience and feedback from Workshop attendees and defines an approach for moving an ASDI Program forward in a manner that addresses both urgent, near-term needs as well as longer term strategic planning and the need for incremental program development over time. A first discussion draft copy was distributed to all the attendees of the Workshop for further review and comment. Feedback from this review was used to develop this final document that was then submitted to the National Committee for Statistics and ultimately the Office of the President for adoption as a formal initiative of the Government of Afghanistan. The decree was formally adopted in 2009.

GPC was hired by the Bangkok Metropolitan Electrical Authority (MEA) to assess their data conversion program and conversion contractor methods, and to make recommendations for streamlining this process. Much of this effort involved surfacing and clarifying data capture standards and expectations that had not been clearly specified in the original contract documents. Mr. Sorensen reviewed the MEA’s application requirements and associated these with specific data content, structure and horizontal accuracy requirements that were the source of some disagreement between the contractor and the MEA. These understandings were then used to refine the existing data capture methods and standards to a practical level that could be accomplished by the contractor, and which would ultimately serve the real needs of the MEA.

The ADA is the planning and implementation arm of the High Commission for the Development of ArRiyadh (HC). In this capacity it is responsible for community planning and development coordination for Riyadh City, and is also overseeing the development of the strategic plan for the ArRiyadh region. The Agency is also responsible for the planning, design and implementation of selected public facilities in the City, and manages all aspects of community planning, development, construction and other municipal management-type functions within the Diplomatic Quarter.
GPC guided a team of consultants in working with the ADA to prepare an Information Management Strategic Plan to determine the way forward for the expansion and refinement of the organization’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure as a fundamental component of the ADA’s institutional modernization process. GPC guided a team of consultants in collaboration with Dar Al Handasah Consultants, to inventory the organization’s current situation, establish a vision for the future state for a full enterprise GIS/IS capability, and the development of a staged implementation plan for its accomplishment. Business processes were mapped for most functional units across the ADA, including an inventory of all the information system and data resources, manual or digital, across all business units and a survey of existing staff computing skillsets. Workshops were held with senior staff from all departments to explore the state of the art in advanced information systems from standard IT and GIS to active system monitoring and multi-media information management, discovery, and utilization.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been using geographic information system (GIS) technology at one level or another for more than 15 years. This is most visibly manifested in the HealthMapper and Global Atlas programs developed and administered by the Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response (CSR) group within the Communicable Diseases (CDS) cluster. The HealthMapper application has been distributed to thousands of users worldwide and has been instrumental in introducing de facto epidemiological and related data standards and geospatial awareness to a wide audience. The Global Atlas has introduced new ways of using the Internet to provide information back to the world. In addition to efforts within WHO, there is a broad and ever growing number of United Nations partners and other public health stakeholders throughout the world that are actively involved in both individual and collaborative efforts to apply GIS to national, regional, and international public health issues. These communities are working toward the development of standards and protocols for the development and dissemination of common data models, applications, and information sharing networks. Although WHO is well positioned to play a leading role in facilitating and coordinating these global efforts toward a common benefit, the organization has not yet pursued this in a strategic way.
ESRI and the Geographic Planning Collaborative, Inc. conducted a project to support WHO in conducting a rapid overview requirements analysis and developing of a near-term implementation strategy for the effective strengthening of GIS technology as a fundamental component of the organization's information infrastructure. This effort borrows extensively from current and previous efforts of the health mapping programs within CSR (HealthMapper and Global Atlas), other GIS-related activities at WHO, and developments in the international public health sector and other related initiatives such as the growing national and regional spatial data infrastructure. Recommendations were intended to provide input to immediate concerns regarding the modernization and streamlining of the CSR program, the establishment and operation of the new Situation Room, and the near- and long-term issues that will need to be addressed as WHO moves forward.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province Governor's Office has conceived the development of a comprehensive "E-Services Portal" to increase government effectiveness and public access to information and services within the Province. As envisioned, the E-Services Portal will provide a geographically-enabled, multi-modal information access node, and "window" into an Eastern Province societal information infrastructure (SII). In addition to providing better access to government services and a more effective horizontal and vertical integration among those agencies, the Portal will ultimately extend to many other areas of life in the Province, also embracing the commercial sector, public health and safety, cultural advancement, social support, education and others. The Portal notion is intended to extend the important function of the Governor's Office as the representative of H.E. the King in the Eastern Province, and thus will eventually touch all aspects of life for citizens and other residents and visitors in the Province. GPC is currently supporting ESRI and the Governor's Office to assess the requirements for a prototype E-Services Portal, a short term plan for the development of a "proof of concept" prototype, and a longer term implementation strategy for implementation of the full infrastructure. This project has been recently initiated.

GPC worked in collaboration with St. George Consulting to conduct an assessment of the existing GIS in place at Camp Butler Marine Corps base in Okinawa, and to prepare a strategy for upgrading and optimizing the use of the technology to accomplish Marine Corps needs in the areas of base facility management, range management, emergency management, land use planning, and other purposes. The team worked closely with Marine Corps technical staff to fully inventory the existing situation, identify issues, opportunities and constraints for expanding the utilization of GIS on the Base. They also prepared a strategy for upgrading the system, including the identification of improved or new applications in key business areas, a technical specification for upgrading the computing infrastructure and software systems, as well as a staff training program.

The Bahrain Ministry of Electricity and Water is in the process of implementing an enterprise GIS to support utility management, operations and administration. GPC supported Geomatec, Bahrain in a Program Management role to oversee the development and implementation of the project from initial RFP through to the completion of the system implementation over a two-year period.

RTI International was awarded a contract by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq. Under this contract, RTI is responsible for implementing the Iraq Local Governance Project (LGP) in Iraq's 18 national governorates. The LGP is a capacity-building project that aims to improve the quality of governance in Iraq's governorates, cities, and towns in order to bring concrete improvements to the quality of life of Iraqi citizens. As part of the LGP it has been recognized that geographic information system (GIS) technology can provide effective tools and data to support local government planning and operations. The Amanat Baghdad was chosen as the focus for an initial effort to determine how GIS can be used to most effectively support local government functions and decision making, and a strategy for its implementation.
The purpose of the current GIS assessment is to lay a strategy for advancing the use of GIS to support the operations of the Amanat Baghdad. The strategy will address both the immediate requirements and priorities of the current situation, as well as lay the foundation for an "Enterprise GIS" that can be built over time. This project is building on previous work in GIS development at the Amanat Baghdad, including the 1985 GIS Requirements Analysis for a "Capital Area Development Information System (CADIS)" that was carried out as part of the Baghdad 2001 Masterplan development under the auspices of the Japanese Consortium of Consulting Firms (JCCF), and subsequent efforts within the City in 1985. Mark Sorensen of GPC who is carrying out the assessment was the manager for the original municipal GIS project, and was personally involved in all end user interviews (inclusive of 14 Departments within the Amanat Al Assima and 8 related Ministries), requirements analysis, and system design.

Geographic Information System (GIS) technology has been in use at the World Bank for over twenty years, and has been applied to hundreds of development projects and research initiatives. Through its research work and lending projects, the Bank is arguably the largest single indirect producer of geospatial data on the planet. At the same time, a large number of United Nations agencies and others in the international development community have been developing GIS capacity to support their work, and there is a growing and increasingly organized group of collaborators who have begun to develop standards and share ideas and data. In this project, GPC supported the World Bank, Information Solutions Group (ISG) in conducting a rapid overview requirements analysis and the development of a near-term implementation strategy for the effective strengthening of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology as a fundamental component of the Bank's information infrastructure. This effort borrows extensively from previous efforts at the Bank and builds on the important findings and insights of those works. It also presents a strategy for the incremental, staged strengthening of GIS technology applications at the Bank over the next few years.

GIS has been under development in the City of Krakow and Malopolska Voivodship for over 10 years. In more recent times, changes in the government structure created the Malopolska Marshall Office, and some of the responsibilities of the Voivodship were transferred there, including the management of the regional GIS. Originally planned as a coordinated effort among the two agencies, over the past few years the level of coordination has dropped. Both the City of Krakow and the Marshall Office have made significant investments in GIS technology. Very comprehensive databases have been developed, and many projects and several applications have been developed to support end-user needs. All three organizations are all now in a good position to leverage past investments by operationalizing their systems, expanding the access and use of GIS within their respective organizations, and developing a multi-level spatial data infrastructure (SDI) to support a broad spectrum of stakeholders throughout the Malopolska region. Despite the successes so far, bringing GIS out of its origins in the geodesy and cartography fields will face some serious challenges. National law in Poland is very prescriptive and defines in very narrow terms the responsibilities and limitations of nearly every department. Rules concerning data sharing and charging are restrictive and do not greatly support or promote data sharing across organizational boundaries. Also, within the 3 layers of government there are many cases of overlapping responsibilities that are still be sorted out. The economy in the Malopolska region has been relatively stagnant for some time, thus government budgets are tight.
GPC supported the analysis of fundamental GIS requirements within the 3 participating agencies to carry out a rapid assessment to understand the full breadth of potential applications across all 3 organizations, and more generally across all the other governmental and other potential GIS stakeholders across the Malopolska region. The findings of the study have been used as the basis for formulating an initial strategy for the strengthening of the technology within the 3 agencies, and the incremental development of a common spatial data infrastructure across the region that can eventually serve an even broader range of other stakeholders.

The Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) has maintained a progressive and proactive GIS development strategy for many years, and has been a showcase for effective application of GIS technology to water utility management in the region and beyond. The IRWD GIS is recognized as one of the most complete utility AM/FM/GIS systems in the region, and has been used far beyond classical facility mapping to support advanced master planning, hydraulic analysis, and other issues.
IRWD wished to migrate its current GIS (Arc/Info 7.2.1) to the latest version of the ArcGIS (8.X) software to take advantage of new and revolutionary (at the time) advancements in the technology. These advantages include more integrated object-relational data modeling, maintenance of geospatial data directly within an RDBMS environment, faster performance, more flexible and powerful options for end user access and use of the system, and integration with other enterprise information systems at the District. The implementation of the new GIS technology also offers the opportunity to expand the use of GIS to support other business functions in IRWD. The integration of GIS with these other business function will leverage the investment in GIS and will provide additional opportunities improve efficiencies and to improve the quality of the day-to-day decisions by providing quick access to most of the current information maintained by IRWD in wide variety of other systems. GPC supported Americec, Inc. in conducting all aspects of the project, including the development of a system design and implementation strategy for the migration and extension of the system towards a full enterprise system over time.

The College of the Atlantic (CoA) commissioned GPC to assist them in the development of a new vision for GIS at the school. While the CoA had developed a significant GIS lab and was offering GIS training to complement many of its regular classes, the school was interested to expand the role of geospatial thinking and technology across many disciplines, and in the development of an applied research group. GPC facilitated several workshops and meetings with the College’s Administration and Professor’s, and based on this developed a new envisioning document, strategic plan, an implementation approach, and a business development approach for securing research grants and project funding to support an expanded GIS Lab.

GPC was hired by the City of Pasadena Department of Water and Power (DWP), in collaboration with Scarfe Consulting, to oversee the design and development of an enterprise GIS capability across the organization. A consultant had been hired to conduct this project, including the development of a GIS design and implementation plan that included the automation of most existing paper records into an integrated digital utility database, development of multiple operations support applications, and the training of staff to use and manage the system. GPC provided project management support to the Department by overseeing and reviewing all consultant outputs, and in representing the Department’s interests in any negotiations with the Consultant and the City’s Information Technology Department.

The Algeria National Cadastre (ANC), in 1993 initiated the development of a computerized cadastral mapping system to capture and manage boundary and ownership information concerning the Country's estimated several million urban and rural land parcels. This was intended to complement and integrate with the land title information database that was implemented within the Conservation Foncierre (CF), also within the Ministry of Finance, during the same period. The ANC cadastral mapping system has been a unique and aggressive showcase for the application of new technology for digital data capture and management, and it continues to effectively serve this purpose today. Since that time, GIS and related technologies such as GPS, remote sensing, relational database management systems, modular programming and the Internet have progressed tremendously.
The convergence and integrated use of this broad range of new technologies is now made possible through powerful new functionality and open, inter-operable systems standards. These offer unprecedented opportunities to apply new and creative combinations of capabilities towards more effective data access and analysis, streamlining of government operations across multiple sectors, and the use of cadastral information as a fundamental keystone for a national spatial data infrastructure to support physical, economic, and social development and environmental protection in Algeria. GPC worked with ESRI-France and the Algerian National Cadastre to assess the existing situation and system, and to identify areas for building upon the existing technical foundation system, and to define practical steps that can be taken to move this initiative forward in concert with the GTZ supported modernization program. The assessment provides an overview of the existing situation regarding cadastral information management, a requirements analysis that synthesizes existing practices and potential process and tool enhancements to a series of functional groupings, and lastly presents a framework for an implementation strategy by which the government of Algeria can move forward in an incremental way towards a more integrated cadastral information infrastructure for the Country.

An assessment of the developing Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) was conducted by Mark Sorensen with ESRI/GISTEC at the request of Mr. Majid Monsouri, ERWDA Undersecretary, This review includes an onsite engagement upon which a series of observations, issues, structural principles and recommendations and a preliminary work plan for the synergistic alignment of the current programs to optimize commonalities and leverage the organization's investment in the environmental data issue was developed.
This information is intended as initial input to the program development process. It is fully expected that the issues and recommendations summarized here will require additional dialog and refinement in the formulation of a final strategy.

The mapping system within the Computerized Data Management System (CDMS) at the Al Ain Town Planning Department (TPD) was initiated in the early 1980's. At that time, the system was a unique and aggressive showcase for the application of new technology for digital mapping and cartographic production. Since that time, GIS and related technologies such as GPS, remote sensing, relational database management systems, modular programming and the Internet have developed tremendously. The convergence and integrated use of these technologies is now made possible through open, inter-operable systems standards that offer unprecedented opportunities to apply new and creative combinations of capabilities towards more effective planning, municipal operations, community service and "enterprise" systems to support better overall government operations. GPC supported the Al Ain TPD to conduct a rapid GIS requirements review and implementation strategy. The intention of the review was to support the TPD in identifying the wide range of applications that could be supported by GIS, and the identification of practical steps that can be taken to move this initiative forward. It is expected that this document will serve as a starting point for a more detailed requirements analysis and a system design and implementation strategy that will guide the development of a full GIS capability at the TPD in the near future.

Arctic Research Community of the United States (ARCUS)Seattle, Washington, USA2001

GPC was commissioned by the Arctic Research Community of the United States (ARCUS), to co-chair an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded workshop and publication describing the need for a spatial data infrastructure to support scientific research in the Arctic. The stated purpose of the Workshop was to ""provide NSF with community input and recommendations to enhance the use of internet-based GIS for Arctic research"". The workshop participants were first provided with background overview concerning the current state of GIS development. Armed with this background, the participants were then asked to address a variety of specific questions intended to initiate dialog and the development of some level of definition and consensus regarding Arctic research priorities, and how GIS data, tools and methods, and in particular Internet-based capabilities, might be applied to support them.
During the Workshop, the phrase ""internet-based GIS"" evolved to the broader notion of ""spatial data infrastructure"", and all that this implies. It was realized that, while the internet represents an unprecedented opportunity for managing, searching and dissemination of shared data and provision of web-based GIS application services, it is only one part of a larger ""information infrastructure"" framework that will be needed to effectively support scientific research in the Arctic in a manner that goes beyond the needs of specific projects or disciplines. The technology ""enabler"" represented by the Internet will only work if it has the foundation of other technical, administrative, legal, and financial frameworks that also support the development and sustainability of a regional coordination effort.
While the workshop was focused on the needs of the Arctic research community, it was also acknowledged that these do not exist in a vacuum. There is a broader community of GIS stakeholders in the Arctic region and globally who have overlapping and potentially synergistic needs, activities and resources. A significant part of the workshop addressed the ""state of the art"" in GIS technology, the advancement of geographic information science, and the growing movement towards the development of national, regional and global spatial data infrastructures (SDI), and the potential for broadly based regional and international collaboration in the Arctic region with other related stakeholder communities.

GPC supported a large residential real estate concern in the development of a prototype web page for the promotion of planned community housing and information exchange with prospective home buyers and residents. The interface incorporates web-based imaging and database searching capability to input and locate housing products which meet particular consumer requirements, while compiling information to support ongoing marketing and development. The prototype will also incorporate Quick Type Virtual Reality (QTVR) technology and other techniques for visual exploration.

GPC provided consulting and project management support to the GISTEC and Khatib & Alami Team for the development of an Emirate-wide enterprise GIS database and application software system for managing water and electrical utility infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. This $14M, 220,000 person hour, 14 month fast-track project is one of the most comprehensive and aggressive utility enterprise system ever undertaken anywhere in the world. The system, substantially completed in April, 2002, addresses over 160 business processes within the planning, design, operations, maintenance, and administration activities of five companies involved in water and electrical transmission and distribution for the entire Emirate. The system implementation effort included the:User needs survey, needs assessement and requirements analysis, data inventory and assessment, system design and implementation strategy
Development of a comprehensive facility database for the entire Emirate, including over 180 data layers and 1700 tabular fields based on international water and electrical geodatabase models. The entire system was implemented in an ArcGIS 8.X, SDE environment in Oracle;
Implementation of a complete computing infrastructure including a centralized data and application server environment integrated to the ADWEA Data Center and extending GIS services to over 350 people in 25 regional offices,
Implementation of the full Miner & Miner ArcFM application suite:
Development of several original application software modules for water and electrical facility siting, water tanker delivery management, switching analysis and other functions;
Pilot interface to the Maximo maintenance management system;
Interfaces to CYME and EPANet power and hydraulic modeling systems;
Interface of the GIS to the OMNIX customer information system;
Feasibility studies for interfacing the GIS to the Oracle Financial, SCADA, WATNET, and PSS/E;
Training of over 350 staff,
Orientation seminars for over 50 top managers in all the companies,
Mobilization of and extensive On-the-Job-Assistance program, comprising over 20 staff working directly within all the company premises over several months;
3-month operations and maintenance period, comprising over 40 staff to stabilize and fine tune the system, and ensure effective technology transfer to ADWEA and the affiliated companies.
Mark Sorensen of GPC served as the Director of Operations for the project, and was involved in overseeing the entire project through the completion of the production phase.

GPC was commissioned by Centex Homes Inland Empire Division to support regional analysis for siting new residential neighbor hoods in Southern California. This proprietary methodology is being used by Centex to understand local markets and their relationships to employment centers, transportation and other facilities and services. A large and diverse geographic database has been developed, and GPC is assisting Centex staff in integrating the data and tools to various planning and operations components of the Centex business.

Mark Sorensen of GPC has served as the Project Coordinator for the Salton Sea Database Program (SSDP) at the University of Redlands. The SSDP is a four year, four million dollar binational, bioregional decision support system funded by the USEPA that has been developed in support of a major environmental restoration program at the Salton Sea, California. Mark directed the development of a strategic plan for the program that defined several "mission critical" activities needed to develop and operate an effective area information steward role. Nearly all of the original planned activities has been completed or is nearing completion in 2001:
Digital Multiple Media Library. A comprehensive database of information about the Salton Sea has been collected, organized and cataloged in both digital and hardcopy form. This includes over 5000 bibliographic citations, several hundred online documents, over 400 layers of geospatial information, historical and current photographs, multi-media presentations, websites, stakeholders, events, and other information.
Cross-Media Database (XMDB). A Cross Media Database (XMDB) management system has been developed by the SSDP to describe and provide access to the SSDP data holdings. This system combines ideas gleaned from digital library initiative around the world, and an integration of metadata (data about data) standards being developed by the geospatial community (Federal Geographic Data Committee, the Open GIS Consortium, the International Standards Organisation), the library science community (MARC), and the international multimedia community (Dublin Core).
Request for Information Management System. An online Reguest for Information (RFI) system was developed to accept and manage stakeholder requests for data, products and technical support in accessing and using the SSDP data holdings. Nearly 500 requests have been handled through the system in the past year and a half. Most requests are accommodated with standard products, such as the CD Atlas. Other more specialized or time consuming requests become "sub-projects" that are handled by small teams, and entered to the master project management system.
Project Planning and Resource Tracking System. An online project management Critical Path Method (CPM) system has been implemented to manage the human and financial resources of the SSDP. The Scitor project management suite has been implemented, along with its web-based Project Communicator system that allows staff to enter their timecard information over the Internet.
CD Salton Sea Data Atlas. A CD-Atlas of the Salton Sea contains over 140 data themes covering the Sea, the watershed, and the region. The 1.5GB of data has been packaged with ESRI's ArcView Data Publisher, thus providing the user with a limited functionality version of the ArcView software for data viewing and exploration. As of summer 2001, nearly 300 copies of the 3-CD Atlas set have been distributed to Salton Sea stakeholders
Salton Sea Hardcopy Environmental Atlas. The SSDP is in the process of creating a 200 page illustrative environmental atlas for the Salton Sea. The Atlas describes all the historical, natural and cultural issues surrounding the Sea and the proposed environmental restoration program.
Special GIS Projects. A wide variety of special GIS projects have been supported by the SSDP over the past 3 years. Some of these have included:
Lake Cahuilla Reconstruction. Estimation of the shoreline of historic Lake Cahuilla based on geomorphological and cultural evidence.
Bird Banding Analysis. SSDP staff and students worked with the Salton Sea Science Office to map and analyze over 20,000 bird banding records from the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory. This effort has revealed new insights regarding the ecological footprint of the Salton Sea, and its important relationship to the Pacific Flyway, the Texas Gulf Coast, and the South-Central Canada Pothole regions.
Water Quality Technical Committee. SSDP staff have supported the Salton Sea Science Office, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and over 17 other local, state, regional, federal and tribal government organizations and research institutions involved in water quality monitoring in the Salton basin. The SSDP took leadership in conducting an inventory and characterization of historic, ongoing, and planned water quality monitorin programs in the basin as the basis for exploring potential for more intergovernmental coordination and collaboration.
Wildlife Health Surveillance System. SSDP staff and students assisted the Salton Sea Science Office and the Salton Sea Authority in conducting a needs analysis and field data collection technology design for a wildlife health surveillance system for the Salton Sea.

GPC was commissioned to prepare and implement a logical framework for future water demand forecast level analysis for the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD). The forecast is being prepared as one input to the Water Master Plan being undertaken by the District.
The forecast model addresses one component in a broader potable water service level analysis need within the District. While the model is being prepared specifically to support the current Planning effort, it is also designed to serve as an ongoing scenario analysis tool that can take into account the effects of other District activities that are related in one way or another to the service level management function. These may include the District's Water Conservation Program (reduction of per capita consumption), the Habitat Conservation Plan, the Forest Management Plan and other activities.
Once completed, the forecast model will provide the District with a computerized method for calculating potential future water service demand scenarios, thereby providing a powerful tool for the formation and analysis of alternative service level reduction strategies. The model utilizes the geographic data and analysis tools already contained in District's geographic information system (GIS), and extends this infrastructure to include new information, as a strategic part of the District's incremental GIS development strategy.

The City of Loma Linda is located in the “Inland Empire” of Southern California, 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The City is 40% developed, the remainder comprising agricultural, open space and vacant areas. Much of the remaining land is located in hillside areas that provide an important scenic backdrop to the City. Planning Department staff are preparing an update to the City’s General Plan, and the Planning Commission has directed them to develop hillside development visual guidelines aimed at preserving this scenic resource.
GPC and the City’s staff utilized ESRI’s ArcView software and selected extensions to support guideline preparation. Existing topographic data was provided by a prospective golf course developer in a CAD format that was read directly using the ArcView CAD Reader extension. The ArcView Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst extensions were used to create the TIN and elevation grids, and to conduct the topographic analysis and visual assessment tasks. The resulting products were used to refine the Commission’s basic visual objectives, which were then translated to standards and guidelines.
One of the more interesting aspects of the project was the use of the 3D visualization tools in interactive sessions with the Planning Commission in public meetings. The 3D Analyst software proved to be an indispensable tool for exploring the visual issues involved, explaining them to a layman audience, and in evaluating the various alternatives and proposals. According to Dan Smith, the City’s Planning Director, “The process responded well to a previous complaint by the Planning Commission that they did not understand the implications of their standards, nor feel assured that they are practical. The GIS-based analysis and 3D visualization let us explore the issues in ways that were very informative and clear.”
GPC is now working with the golf course developer and designers to use the same data to visualize the golf course layout and “fit” with the landscape. The GIS is being used as an integral component of the design process.

GPC assisted The Natelson Company (TNC) in conducting a population and demographic analysis for selected areas of Southern California. This information was being analyzed to support market analysis and siting to support economic development strategic planning for a local municipality.

GPC provided Topping Jacquess Consultants (TJC) (Pasadena, California) with GIS data processing support to develop the statistics necessary to calculate potential demand for selected community facilities and services at buildout. GPC used parcel boundary information from the San Bernardino County Geographic Information Management System (GIMS), tabular data from the county Assessor’s office, and General Plan Land Use data from the City of Colton to analyze the location, zone and quantity of all remaining vacant land within the city boundary. This information was used by TJC to estimate the likely levels of development and demand for selected community facilities and services that could be expected from these parcels in the future.

In early 1997, GPC was commissioned by the State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection, State Lands Division to evaluate specific components of their Land Records Modernization Program. The purpose of the effort was to evaluate the current status of the key land records management components of the program, and to develop a strategic plan for integrating several related data management systems and the business processes that they support. GPC worked closely with Modernization Program staff to document existing technologies, data stores and database development and management processes. This information was used to identify key areas for future integration, and in laying out an implementation process for accomplishing this objective. A key issue in this project was the careful consideration of current standards developed and supported by the DEP’s Bureau of Information Services (BIS), against the potential benefits and limitations of emerging technologies under consideration by the Modernization Program.

GPC was awarded a contract to prepare a feasibility study for a national geographic information infrastructure for Lebanon. This work was carried out for the Republic of Lebanon, Council for Development and Reconstruction, a multi-disciplinary organization with umbrella responsibility for overseeing and administering coordination among 17 sectoral ministries.
The effort was initiated with a review of geographic information infrastructure initiatives around the world. The findings of that review were documented to a working paper entitled "NGII Background, Components, and Implementation Process", November, 1999. The team then conducted interviews with representatives of selected organizations involved in the development of geographic data in Lebanon to determine the current level of GIS development, the purposes and applications for which geographic data are gathered and utilized, the degree of interagency sharing of these data, and objectives and issues for further information sharing.
Information gathered during the interviews was synthesized to two documents, including a "User Survey Report" and a "Data Inventory and Evaluation Report". The User Survey Report summarized the existing situation with GIS development in Lebanon, and the opportunities and constraints that might affect the development of an NGII. The Data Inventory and Evaluation document summarized the existing geographic information identified during the interview stage, and presents a metadata catalog describing each of the identified data sources. The "Conceptual Design" report prepared next used all the information from the previous papers to establish possible models for the development of an NGII for Lebanon, and defined the structure for a hybrid model that can be implemented in phases.
Following development of the Conceptual Design, an "Implementation Plan" was prepared to lay out a series of Tracks and Tasks for the implementation of the Lebanon NGII. Implementation programming was more specific and detailed for the earlier phases of the program, reflecting the recognition that both the situation in Lebanon and the rapidly evolving technology environment in the world at large are rapidly evolving and will influence later phases of NGII development.
The results and recommendations of the previous Project stages were incorporated to the development of a pilot program specification in the form of an "Invitation to Bid" tender document. That paper laid the groundwork for the first pilot phase of NGII development. It is expected that once the CDR Technical Coordination Unit (TCU) has been established, those staff will take responsibility for further extending and refining the tender, and managing its release, assessment of contractor bids, and the selection of an appropriate contractor to support the first phase of effort.

The country of Jamaica is currently restructuring their cadastral, land management, and environmental resource protection government functions to a more rational and integrated structure. The Land Administration Management Programme (LAMP) within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) was assigned the task of coordinating this metamorphosis. As part of the organizational reform process, LAMP envisioned a national, GIS-based Land Information System (LIS) system as the foundation of the country’s geographic information infrastructure. Working through the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Mark Sorensen was commissioned in 1998 to help pull together the information management considerations of 9 other consultant teams to formulate an integrated National LIS Framework Plan. Focused workshops were held with all the major Ministry stakeholders to identify and prioritize the databases and applications that would comprise the initial framework. This required careful consideration of a wide range of issues, dependencies, technical infrastructure, institutional capacity, the identification of fundamental needs across the entire stakeholder community, consideration of the specialized needs of individual Ministries, and a host of other issues. The resulting plan is now being used to structure the first phase of a long-term implementation effort.

GPC supported Kyushu University and ANS Consultants, Fukuoka, Japan in carrying out a comprehensive planning research project which is being funded by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The project involves the extensive use of GIS and related technologies for the planning, design, construction and ongoing management of a new community of 50,000 people near Fukuoka on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The project is unique because it involves a full community life-cycle application of GIS to site planning, community masterplanning and design, construction management, and ongoing community management.

GPC assisted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). FMRI commissioned GPC to support the Institute’s Information Science and Management group in carrying out a focused effort to define the form, function and phased implementation of an FMRI Web-based Forum. This initiative is driven partially by a need to provide an Institute-wide, coordinated Web presence while also supporting the specific information access and dissemination requirements of individual programs. The FMRI Web Forum is also intended to comprise a comprehensive outreach, communication and collaboration infrastructure connecting the Institute with other scientific research organizations, federal, state and local agencies, community decision makers and the general public.

GPC has supported the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI) in the development of a Web-based GIS data access and delivery system. FMRI clientele are able to access the Institute’s extensive statewide GIS database, select one or more layers of information for a particular geographic area of interest, and download that information and its associated metadata. The data is offloaded to an ftp site and the requestor is automatically sent an email to notify them that the data are available. The information is left on the ftp site for 72 hours, after which it is deleted automatically by the system. The initial SORI application suite is envisioned as one component of the FMRI Web Forum, intended to comprise a comprehensive outreach, communication and collaboration infrastructure connecting the Institute with other scientific research organizations, federal, state and local agencies, community decision makers and the general public.

The Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI), Coastal and Marine Resource Assessment (CAMRA) group grew rapidly from 3 persons to a staff of over 40 between 1990 and 1997. The group has been extremely successful in the application and promotion of GIS, remote sensing and related technologies throughout the Institute, the State of Florida, and has pioneered the application of these tools to coastal resource management issues in the U.S. and abroad. With that success came rapid growth and the inevitable growing pains. In 1997, FMRI commissioned GPC to help assess the current administrative and technological framework of the organization, and to help define priorities and standards development to streamline and extend the group’s business model and technical infrastructure. GPC facilitated a series of fact-finding workshops, and mobilized a small team of professionals to analyze the underlying administrative, technical, financial and human factors, and to fashion a series of potential future scenarios that could logically be considered by CAMRA. GPC then led a second round of participatory workshops that allowed CAMRA staff to explore these scenarios and then fashion their own future path. This process was structured to reveal the real issues underlying current challenges, and has helped to build new understandings and communication channels among staff and management.

GPC, in collaboration with PAE International (Tokyo, Japan) and Topping Jacquess Consultants (Pasadena, California) prepared a full-lifecycle GIS for megamall planning, design and management. This work was carried out on behalf of American Malls Incorporated (AMI), developer of several megamall developments in the United States. AMI is seeking to develop 8-10 megamalls in Japan and intends to use GIS as a fundamental technology for organizing and distributing data among the wide range of project planners, architects, engineers, real estate professionals, leasing agents and others involved in the process. The GIS will serve as a full project lifecycle tool to support regional site selection, local context analysis and feasibility evaluation, government zoning and entitlement processing, land consolidation and acquisition, site planning and design, building permitting, construction management, built facility operations and management, and lease management. A strategic plan report was produced to define the concept for this approach to integrated data management, and a demonstration database was built for a site in Moriya, Japan, northeast of Tokyo.

Mark Sorensen led a team of planners and GIS specialists in the analysis of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The purpose of the assessment was to understand development opportunities and constraints, environmental preservation, urban growth and expansion, and other needs facing the region. This information was used to identify land capacity and urban expansion trends and the identification of areas where these competing uses might compete. It was also used to identify potential sites for various facilities and services, such as new housing communities, golf courses, recreational parks, and environmental preservation zones.

Mark Sorensen led a team of planners and GIS specialists in the analysis of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The purpose of the assessment was to understand development opportunities and constraints, environmental preservation, urban growth and expansion, and other needs facing the region. This information was used to identify land capacity and urban expansion trends and the identification of areas where these competing uses might compete. It was also used to identify potential sites for various facilities and services, such as new housing communities, golf courses, recreational parks, and environmental preservation zones.

Under contract to the Japan Housing Organization and the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), GPC prepared a “Coastal Development Guidelines” booklet. This booklet is intended to help developers, government officials and public interests to understand the special site development opportunities and constraints within the coastal zone, inclusive of coastal land and near-shore marine environments. The booklet includes an extensive checklist of issues which can be used as a guide for initial site planning and design, as well as a tool for government officials in evaluating project proposals.

GPC, in association with the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI®), Redlands, California and Misawa Homes, Tokyo Japan, has conducted three major energy research projects for the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Mark Sorensen of GPC directed a multi-disciplinary team of over sixty people in fourteen different companies to carry out these projects. In addition to managing the overall effort, GPC staff designed and implemented a methodology and automated decision support tools for environmental site analysis, population facility and service projections, and place-based energy technology selection. These models were used to analyze three sites in Japan, and in the formulation and a development program and physical guidelines for the design of prototypical energy-efficient communities on each site.
ARC/INFO GIS-based models were used to analyze a broad range of site development opportunities and constraints for various uses including housing, mixed use commercial, recreational, and natural habitat preservation. An extensive spreadsheet model was developed to determine requirements and necessary land allocations for various community facilities and services based on sociodemographic and market factors. A third model was use to determine appropriate energy-efficient technologies for the planned community related to transportation, infrastructure and buildings.

GPC prepared a waterfront reuse strategy for a portion of Yokohama Bay, Japan. The methodology and resulting plan are intended to represent a new and progressive vision for the utilization of Japan’s declining industrial waterfronts. As heavy industry moves offshore, Japan has the opportunity to aggressively pursue new and emerging markets that will change the face of mankind in the coming decades.
The challenge being addressed in this project is how to understand the trends of this “new era” of economic development in Japan, and take proactive steps to introduce new and emerging industries and other productive uses for the waterfront, while maintaining a strong economic base, creating new jobs, restoring environmental integrity and creating healthy and safe places for people to work, live, play and learn. A critical ingredient in this progressive vision is the introduction of energy efficiency and optimum use of local energy resources to support the idea of balanced planning and sustainable development principles along the coastal and associated marine environments.
The GPC team is applying a structured, computer-aided methodology for ecosystematic planning and site design for the new waterfront community. The methodology comprises several levels of analysis and a multi-disciplinary team of over 30 people. The methodology analyzes the existing situation at the regional and community levels to understand present opportunities and constraints, including the technological hazards represented by past and remaining industrial uses of the site and surrounding areas. The aggregate analysis is then used to define optimum community planning and site design options which are being translated to a physical site design.

The University of Southern California (USC) is preparing a prototype website to promote the use of the Internet for community based, economic development and information exchange. This prototype, called a “Community Information Footpath” is being developed using ESRI’s MapObjects and Internet Map Server software. This effort is being led by the University of Southern California, School of Urban Planning and Development (SUPD) with Professor Eric Heikkila acting as Principal Investigator. GPC is providing technical design and implementation consulting to the effort, which is also being supported by several SUPD students

A user requirements analysis and GIS system design for a comprehensive, county-wide water resource management system. The study involved 17 local, state and federal agencies involved in water management throughout the County. The results of the study were used to consolidate water resource planning authority within the County Department of Comprehensive Planning and served as a framework for future data sharing and collaboration among the relevant agencies.
As the senior consultant and project manager, Mr. Sorensen led a team of GIS and water resource consultants in the preparation and conducting of user requirements interviews, compilation and synthesis of the data and application needs assessment, facilitated joint workshops with 17 local, state and federal agencies involved in the study, and oversaw the production of the final report. The final report included recommendations for integrated databases and data format standards to facilitate multiple-use and multi-agency use of all relevant geographic databases created by any agency within the County.

This project involved the planning, design and implementation of a comprehensive GIS-based system to support marine spill contingency planning and response. An extensive user requirements survey was conducted, involving a wide variety of Federal, State and local government agencies and others involved in marine spill planning and response. An comprehensive data inventory and evaluation was also conducted, and this information was used in the development of a database design and detailed implementation strategy. The data compilation, integration, and automation strategy and key applications prototypes were then tested in the development of a pilot program for a limited geographic area. The pilot was evaluated by all the “stakeholders”, and feedback was used to develop a final design and implementation strategy.
Mr. Sorensen served as Senior Consultant and Project Manager for a team of 17 GIS and marine spill contingency planning and response consultants. He was also the principal author of a several volume system planning and design series, including:
Phase I - System and Database Needs Assessment Report. Defines the functional and data requirements for the full marine spill analysis system, based on an extensive survey of user requirements.
Phase I - Appendix A Data Inventory and Evaluation Forms. All relevant data uncovered during a statewide data inventory and evaluation stage are summarized.
Phase II - Database Acquisition and Application Development Manual. Presents an overall conceptual design for the data an application software for the ultimatl configuration of the FMSAS, and a strategy for GIS data acquisition, integration and automation.
Phase III - Prototype Automated Atlas Report. Documents the database and application software pilot system that was implemented during the project.
Phase IV - Full-Scale Implementation Report. Presents the development of a long-term implementation plan for the incremental and phased development of a statewide marine spill analysis system.
Program Maintenance Manual. The Program Maintenance Manual describes the organization and operation of the programs in sufficient detail to permit system maintenance by the onsite system managers and programmers.
Pilot Application User Manual. The User’s Guide provides instructions to assist the user in the operation of the user interface system developed for the marine spill analysis system.
This original plan has been used for several years to guide the ongoing implementation of the system..

Mark Sorensen, GPC President, while under the employ of ESRI was the project manager for the development of an oil spill contingency planning and response demonstration system for the Arthur Kill estuary, New Jersey, USA. This was one of the first GIS based oil spill response systems that combined the digital representation of Environmental Sensititivity Index (ESI) shoreline ratings as well as other "resources at risk". The application also included a heuristic model to predict the near term spread and fate of spilled oil, a calculation of resources at risk that could be affected, and the integration of contingency plans including the location and inventory of labor, equipment and other response resources.

Design and implementation planning and implementation support for a citywide GIS for the City of Honolulu, Hawai. This four year project began with a user needs assessment and system design involving 16 different departments within the city government, and the development of a comprehensive database containing 12 layers of information (parcels, water distribution system, sewer collection system, storm drainage system, zoning boundaries, police beats, etc.) for the entire island of Oahu. Later phases involved the development of a crime analysis system for the City's Police Department, Cadastral updating software for the Department of Land Utilization, implementation of applications software and data updating for a Sewer Information Management System for the city's Department of Wastewater Management.
Mr. Sorensen served as Senior Consultant for the design phase of the project as well as Project Manager for all the implementation phases of the project. This included establishment of a data automation studio within the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing PRC to support the initial mass data capture phase.

Conducted over seventy land planning projects in Japan between 1985 and the present. The projects ranged from Prefecture-wide environmental planning to site specific masterplans for communities and resorts. The projects were mostly commissioned by the Japan Housing Organization and the Global Life Learning Foundation, both chaired by Dr. Taeko Matsuda, of Tokyo, Japan. The focus of the projects was the application of environmentally-based planning and design in the development of sustainable communities in Japan. GIS technology was used as a central tool for the analysis of environmental, socioeconomic, financial, aesthetic and engineering opportunities and constraints.
The three most recent projects, conducted during 1995, were carried out on behalf of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). These three research projects explored the opportunities for optimizing energy usage at the community level, including land use planning to reduce vehicle trips, local energy resource utilization (wind, solar, microhydro, etc.), infrastructure optimization, energy-efficient architectural design, solid waste recycling, cogeneration, and a host of other planning, design and technology implementation opportunities for "place-based" sustainable energy utilization.
As director of the ESRI Land Planning Group, Mr. Sorensen oversaw all the Japanese planning projects, including direct project management and oversight of other project managers. Each project involved problem characterization, site reconnaissance, data collection and evaluation, data compilation and integration, data automation, data analysis, map product development, land use planning and community design, and final presentation preparation including slide presentations, videos, planning reports and booth exhibits.

Requirements assessment and design of a GIS system and implementation plan for a major government agency in Kenya. The project involved evaluation of ongoing ecological monitoring programs and the design of a GIS system and database to support the long term objectives of the organization. It also included the development of a pilot database to verify database design assumptions and to demonstrate the utility of the system.
Mr. Sorensen acted as both Senior Consultant and Project Manager on this project. He carried out a requirements analysis for several environmental monitoring programs and departments and compiled a system design and implementation plan. He led a technical team to compile, integrate and automate data from various sources.

System design and implementation plan for a statewide GIS for the management of ocean and coastal resources in Hawaii. The project involved the assessment of user requirements for sixteen municipal, regional, state and federal government agencies and private organizations. This information was then synthesized to a comprehensive system design and implementation plan to guide GIS development throughout the state. A pilot database of representative ocean and coastal data was created to demonstrate the utility of the system as a multiple agency resource planning and management tool.
Mr. Sorensen served as Senior Consultant and Project Manager for the project. He led a team of consultants to carry out the requirements analysis and system design and implementation plan. He also led a technical team in the compilation and automation of coastal and ocean resource information for the pilot study demonstration system.

Conceptual design for a citywide GIS for the City of Baghdad, Iraq. The project was carried out as one component of the ""Baghdad 2001"" masterplan update conducted by a multinational team of consultants under the management of the Japanese Consortium of Consulting Firms (JCCF). The project involved an extensive user needs assessment, system design and implementation plan involving fifteen different agencies within the Amanat Al Assima (“Keeper of the City”) municipal government.
As Senior Consultant and Project Manager Mr. Sorensen was responsible for all phases of the project including leading a team of consultants in conducting user needs interviews with over 50 groups in fifteen different municipal departments. Interview information was synthesized to a conceptual system design, and a long term implementation plan was developed in consultation with municipal authorities.

State of Maine Department of Environmental ProtectionAugusta, Maine USA1984

GPC participated as a member of a team that conducted a “business-centric” assessment of environmental permitting across the agency, and the development of a system development strategy to move the agency towards an enterprise approach to their strategic organization information resources. Beginning in 1984 with the first Maine Oil Spill Information System (MOSIS), the State of Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) has been a leader in developing best of breed Geographic Information Systems to support the ongoing work of the Department. Over the past five years, MDEP has deployed one of the most advanced distributed GIS systems available at a state agency anywhere in the U.S. As with most organizations, however, GIS development efforts at MDEP had been developed in largely separate, though parallel efforts among counterparts in the broader Computer Services Unit (CSU). New technologies and new policy directives have recently encouraged MDEP to pursue a more integrated approach to systems development so that the power of spatial analysis can be more seamlessly integrated into the everyday workflows of MDEP staff. Specifically, there is a need to build spatial analysis and spatial visualization support into the upcoming Environmental Facility Information system (EFI) development efforts.
To accomplish the above objectives and to make the best use of available resources, the MDEP decided to undertake a consultant-assisted process. Under this approach, a majority of the work was to be carried out by MDEP staff, with support from specialized consultants at key junctures in the project. The resulting team arrangement allowed MDEP GIS staff to take maximum responsibility for the project, reinforce relationships with end users in the Department, build internal capacity, and greatly reduce costs for external support.
The consultant team had recommended a business process modeling software, Provision Workbench, as an environment for effectively gathering and documenting the workflow and data requirements of the end users. This was seen as an opportunity to engage the end user community directly in building an archive and knowledge base regarding MDEP business processes that involve spatial data. This tool and the associated methods allowed the necessary information collection and compilation to be done in a manner that would both support the current project, while providing a framework that could be expanded and refined later to address the larger systems integration and implementation efforts within the Department. To this end, selected MDEP staff were trained in the use of the software both in the form of instructor led classroom activities, as well as on-the-job experience conducting initial end user interviews with consultant support. All the pertinent information was collected and documented into the Provision system, and reviewed and confirmed with the end user community through an iterative, interactive process. The information now documented in Provision can be referenced through the software, or can be output to a variety of digital or hard copy report formats. The need for any digital or hard copy reference output from the Provision system will be discussed by the Project Team while defining requirements for final project documentation.

GPC-GIS were engaged by Emaar the Economic City (EEC), Master Developer for the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to develop their Unified Street Addressing Protocols (standard) and an Implementation Strategy for the development of a unified street addressing system for the city. The street addressing system for KAEC is based on a systematic and easy to use street addressing and signage approach that has been standardized for all of the city. It provides a way to uniquely identify the location of every home, office or facility in the residential, commercial and industrial areas, using the signage to find our way. The system is designed to establish a sense of order, comfort, and convenience that can be felt in very practical ways in the daily lives of both residents and visitors alike.
During the development of the KAEC Unified Street Addressing Protocols, GPC-GIS conducted a workshop with the street addressing stakeholders where the participants recognized the need to expand the street addressing project to an all-encompassing programme to create and manage the wayfinding, geonaming and signage as well as street addressing for KAEC. Subsequently, the initial Street Addressing Implementation Strategy was upgraded to not only address the strategy to create and manage the street addressing component, but to now outline all of the required activities that must be carried out to design and implement a complete Unified Wayfinding, Addressing, Geonaming and Signage (Uni-WAGS) Programme.
Understanding the dynamic nature of city master planning, development and management where shifting priorities, extremely tight deadlines and financial expectations to see positive return on investment are inevitable, the Implementation Strategy needed to be highly flexible, highly tactical and leverage existing available resources and systems to achieve early results. The strategy also needed to allow the city to implement the critical components of the programme in a manner that was responding to their shifting priorities. It was therefore developed such that each component could be implemented (where possible) earlier or later depending on budget availability, development priorities, stakeholders’ needs and the organization’s readiness.
The scope of GPC-GIS’s engagement for the above project included the following:
Preliminary Research
Initial Consulting and Liaison with Client (Workshop)
Protocol Document Development
Implementation Strategy and Implementation Schedule Development

With the aims of improving optimum use of spatial data across the government and making effective evidence based decisions, Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) is facilitating the implementation of a Sri Lanka National Spatial Data Infrastructure (SL-NSDI) program, in collaboration with stakeholder institutions. SL-NSDI has been identified as one of the key initiatives identified under the National Digital Policy of the Government of Sri Lanka; “Digitalization of the Economy”. ICTA commissioned Mark Sorensen of the GPC Group to carry out two components of a multi-part SL-NSDI planning and development program. This has included the conduct of a requirements study to define in detail the system requirements, related specifications, conduct information classification, prepare system prototype model and the implementation approach. Also under development is a “Policy, Governance and Standards Study” involving the formulation of the policy framework under which the SL-NSDI is to be further formalized, the governance framework including the establishment of executive and technical committees, working groups and special interest groups established. This also addresses the organization and staffing of an initial GeoCentre to facilitate, promote and support the development and operations of the Programme, and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) and standards that are to be adopted to streamline business processes and ensure interoperability across the SL-NSDI community of stakeholders.

GPC facilitated the development of the Environmental Atlas of Abu Dhabi to showcase the special, unique, surprising and fragile environment of the Emirate and the physical and biological systems that comprise it. This was conducted as one of several projects within the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) sponsored by the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD). Whereas other excellent publications previously provided a comprehensive taxonomic view of the natural environment, the Environmental Atlas of Abu Dhabi focused on highlighting how these resources and ecosystems are tied together in a complex tapestry of interrelationships and interdependencies, and to tell this story in a manner that is graphically compelling and easy to understand by a lay audience. With a rich variety of maps showing the location and distribution of the Emirate’s resources, this Atlas is now commercially available through most major book shops and online.
GPC facilitated a team consisting of internal scientists and experts at the EAD, external scientists, writers, artists and geographic information system experts to develop the stories, graphics and maps to explain the environment of Abu Dhabi, the past, present, future and interdependencies among these systems and their interactions with man over the eons and projecting into the future.
As stated in the Amazon.com catalog, “Environmental Atlas of Abu Dhabi Emirate An initiative of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), this remarkable book is a testament to Abu Dhabi's rich environmental heritage, highlighting the past, present and future of human and cultural impact on the emirate. Packed with encyclopaedic information, case studies and statistics, absorbing anecdotes, detailed maps and spectacular images, this book is a true collector's item. Author: Format: Hardback Pages: 200 Dimensions: 430mm(h) x 300mm(w) Language: English Publication Date: DECEMBER 2011 Publisher: Motivate Publishing ISBN No: 978 186063 316 4 Maps: 100+ Number Of Pictures: 120+”.
https://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Atlas-Emirate-Environment-Agency/dp/B01K3QAZJ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496837270&sr=8-1&keywords=environmental+atlas+of+abu+dhabi

In 2010-2011, GPC supported the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) at the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in conceiving, planning and implementing the Eye on Earth Summit – a global event in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) focused on environmental and societal information networking. Held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 12-15 December 2011, the Summit was a major success with delegates and participants from 87 countries in attendance, endorsement of the Eye on Earth Declaration and announcement of 8 Special Initiatives that the AGEDI Program will support and facilitate.
Read more about the Eye on Earth Summit project
With the success of the 2011 Summit, a considerable amount of work remained in order to fulfill commitments to the Special Initiatives. As a result, GPC entered into an agreement with the AGEDI Program to provide consulting services for supporting the facilitation and coordination of 8 Special Initiatives through the Eye on Earth Special Initiatives Secretariat:
THEMATIC:
Eye on Oceans and Blue Carbon
Eye on Biodiversity
Eye on Water Security
Eye on Community Sustainability and Resiliency
Eye on Disaster Management
FOUNDATION:
Eye on Global Network of Networks
Eye on Education
Eye on Access for All
Special Initiatives were developed as part of an intensive stakeholder consultation process leading up to the 2011 Summit and are considered a critical outcome of the Summit that translate the principles of the Summit to “on the ground” commitments and actions. The Special Initiatives seek to fundamentally improve the landscape of environmental and societal information networking for the benefit of mankind from which compelling and tangible benefits can be achieved. GPC supported the Eye on Earth Special Initiatives Secretariat by acting as lead facilitators for each of the 8 Special Initiatives. To do so, GPC worked closely with the AGEDI Program, UNEP and the Eye on Earth Community to facilitate, coordinate and support the advancement of each Initiative as envisioned by the community and the governing body.
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